Singkawang is a city located 145KM north of Pontianak, bordering the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in West Kalimantan province. Singkawang is derived from Hakka, San khew jong (山口洋) which refers to a town in hills nearby a sea and estuary.
Singkawang has a distinct oriental atmosphere with hundreds of Chinese temples found around almost every corner of town. This is because over 70% of Singkawang's population is of Chinese descent, predominantly of the Hakka tribe with some Teochew. Others are Malays, Dayaks and other Indonesian ethnic groups.
We had reservation about our trip to Pontianak and Singkawang, every person we talked to was raving about how filthy the two cities were. But for my husband, this trip meant something to him, although his maternal grandfather's ancestral home was in China, his grandfather first set foot in Borneo somewhere near Singkawang and later flee to Kuching during the Japanese Occupation. It was something of a 'Discover Your Roots' vacation for us. Much to our surprise, Singkawang city was quite clean; the local government had done a good job to uplift the city status as one of a must go tourist destination.
 |
| View of Pontianak city. |
 |
| View of the countryside on the way to Singkawang. |
 |
| Sungai Duri town, halfway between Pontianak and Singkawang. |
 |
| Breakfast in Sungai Duri. |
 |
| View at the back of the shop in Sungai Duri town. |
 |
| Our first stop, Mimi Land. |
 |
| Beautiful sandy beaches in Mimi Land. |
 |
| View from Rindu Alam. |
 |
| Breathtaking view of rolling hills and mountains and of the sea. |
 |
| Rindu Alam. A nice place to visit. |
 |
| Sinar Terang Ceramic in Singkawang. A very ancient ceramic factory. |
 |
| A ceramic factory that still using an ancient ceramic kiln. |
 |
| Singkawang ceramics are strongly influenced by ancient Chinese style. |
 |
| Part of Singkawang city centre. |
 |
| One of the many temples in Singkawang. |
 |
| Beautiful beach in Singkawang. |
 |
| Houses that lined up the roads in Singkawang. |
 |
| Simplistic life, they even set up a small petrol hut by the road side since petrol kiosk is a rare phenomena in West Kalimantan. |
 |
| On the way back to Pontianak. Kite flying is one of favourite pastime in Pontianak city |
The journey to Singkawang was two and half hours by car (Toyota Innova). We traveled on a Saturday and the road was jammed with vehicles. The road system is very basic in West Kalimantan. There is only one lane each way, and to overtake, it meant driving on the wrong side of the road. Patrick, our driver knew pretty much what he was doing and we felt very safe. He charged us $200(Malaysian Ringgit) for a whole day trip inclusive of fuel. He speaks good English (he improved his spoken English during his stint as a driver for a British Council's consultant for 3 months), hakka, teochew and a little bit of Mandarin. Contrary to what was said, a lot of Chinese that we met in Pontianak and Singkawang do not have a good command of mandarin, most of the time they will revert to their excellent Indonesian malay if spoken to in Mandarin. If you are interested in hiring Patrick and his car, you can contact him.
Patrick @ Ah Khun
email: hendry+8@yahoo.com
facebook: Hendry_khun
Mobile phone no.: 62 0852 4541 8061
No comments:
Post a Comment